"Coming Together, Coming Apart" by Daniel Gordis (Wiley, 258 pages, $25.95)
Daniel Gordis' latest book is full of questions about why things are happening as they are in Israel today, and how history has influenced them - questions, he makes clear, that have no simple answers.
The author moved with his wife and their three small children from Los Angeles to Jerusalem in 1998.
The poignant musings that fill his pages make understandable much that news reports do not. Speaking like a husband and father rather than as a journalist, Gordis goes beneath and beyond the headlines.
Stories of bodies returned, of old Torahs restored, of families like his choosing this edgy, uncomfortable Israeli life show why he concludes: "I feel fortunate to have been born during that slender window in time when the Jews were trying, for the first time in thousands of years, to build something of their own.
...
"How many of us get to live our lives as players in the unfolding of something majestic, historic, transformative? Even now, there's no place else I'd rather be."
_Harriet P.
Gross
"Believers" by Jeffery L. Sheler (Viking, 336 pages, $24.95)
What is an evangelical?
Jeffery L. Sheler first encountered evangelicals when he was a teenager. The experience led him to be critical and realistic about the evangelical movement when he served as reporter and religion editor for U.
S. News World Report.
The core identity of an evangelical lies in the fourfold insistence on the need for conversion, authority of the Scriptures, evangelism, and the cross of Christ.
The strength of this book lies in Sheler's skillful introduction to the wide range of evangelical leaders and organizations.
He interviews seminary presidents, megachurch pastors, political activists and laymen. He explains the purpose and characteristics of organizations such as Navigators and Focus on the Family.
He even accompanies a group of men on a short mission trip to Guatemala to better understand the purpose of mission work.
Sheler concludes that evangelicals are normal folks of every economic spectrum and occupation with a wide range of political and social concerns. His book effectively demystifies the buzzword "evangelical.
"
"Their Own Receive Them Not" by Horace L. Griffin (Pilgrim Press, 225 pages, $24)
In "Their Own Receive Them Not," Episcopal priest Horace L. Griffin takes a look at homophobia in black churches.
As a gay black man who made his way through seminary, he writes, he knows firsthand what it's like not to be accepted by his own race, in his own church.
In his book (the title refers to John 1:11), Father Griffin describes gay people hiding from heterosexuals because of negative attitudes.
Black people overall, Father Griffin said, are becoming more disapproving of gays.
In one survey he cites, 40 percent of African-Americans said gays should be granted civil rights - down from 65 percent 10 years ago.
Father Griffin examines Bible verses typically used to condemn homosexuality, such as the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and explains what he thinks they really mean. He also talks about men who were black, gay and successful, such as George Washington Carver, James Baldwin and Leonard Patterson.
He winds up by making a call for reconciliation.
"Fleeing Fundamentalism" by Carlene Cross (Algonquin Books, 276 pages, $23.95)
I could not put this book down; I read it straight through - so will you.
It is a compelling story, told in beautiful prose, of how a sweet and spiritual idealism is dissolved by the ugly acids of addiction, deceit and male domination.
Carlene Cross grew up in Montana, gradually welcomed religious faith, attended a Bible college, traveled on overseas missions, and married the ministerial superstar of campus. Many, including myself, identify with her description of young married life in a parsonage.
But not many can recount the incredible sequence of events that eroded both her family and her faith.
Religion, like politics and business and any other human endeavor, has a dark and desperate underside; it is a Baptist version of this that Cross experienced, one that emphasized the ideas of authority and submission. She describes her complicity and her eventual escape.
"Spiritual growth," she asserts, "is a road of discovery," and I suspect that she has more to discover and more to write. Look for a sequel.
_Dwight A.
Moody
This site rounds up "cool Christian clothing." Yes, you'll find the "Jesus Is My Homeboy" T-shirt, but there are also less ubiquitous, obvious designs as well as links to Christian retailers. The blogger posts mostly positive, benign comments about the clothes, but there's some depth if you search.
"Sharing of faith happens in relations with other people," he writes. Maybe a T-shirt can start something but don't rely on things to live your Christian life." The same post cautions shoppers to consider the ethics of consumerism.
News RSS